This Company Profile from Euromonitor provides key details and analysis of consumer electronics company, Sony. Included is a strategic evaluation with key facts about the Japanese company, competitive positioning against comparative brands, and assessment of its position in the electronics market. Brand opportunities and strategy are identified and recommendations for the future offered.

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Sony Electronics: Sony 4K Ultra HD TV launch

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MMA Smarties, Gold, MMA Smarties, 2014

This case study describes how Sony Electronics used mobile media to target affluent US consumer electronics shoppers by building awareness and desire for its new 4K Ultra High Definition TV via Amazon.com. View Summary

This case study describes how Sony Electronics used mobile media to target affluent US consumer electronics shoppers by building awareness and desire for its new 4K Ultra High Definition TV via Amazon.com.

On average, electronics shoppers read 11 reviews before making purchases, and 84% of electronics shoppers trust consumer reviews on Amazon.com the most.

This Company Profile from Euromonitor provides key details and analysis of consumer electronics company, Samsung. Included is a strategic evaluation with key facts about the South Korean company, competitive positioning against comparative brands, and assessment of its position in the electronics market. Brand opportunities and strategy are identified and recommendations for the future offered.

4

SOL REPUBLIC builds a headphone brand with a purpose

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Stephen Whiteside, Event Reports, Internet Week New York, May 2014

This event report explains how SOL REPUBLIC, the headphones brand, is targeting an audience of 18–28-year-olds, and seeking to stand out in a category currently dominated by Beats by Dre, the market leader. View Summary

This event report explains how SOL REPUBLIC, the headphones brand, is targeting an audience of 18–28-year-olds, and seeking to stand out in a category currently dominated by Beats by Dre, the market leader.

A core aspect of the company’s strategy is its corporate philosophy, based around changing the world “one listener at a time”.

To encourage uptake among its desired customer base, SOL Republic has attempted to sell many of its products at an accessible price-point.

On the hardware front, it responded to complaints that many headphones frequently broke by makings its products more durable than the norm.

Building its brand has also rested on making various offerings customisable, so they become a fashion accessory that fit in with the wearer’s lifestyle and preferences.

This event report discusses how Bose, the audio equipment brand, successfully enhanced the quality of the advertising produced by its in-house agency. View Summary

This event report discusses how Bose, the audio equipment brand, successfully enhanced the quality of the advertising produced by its in-house agency. After reassessing the idea of having an internal creative shop in the wake of the financial crisis, Bose decided to keep it, but undertook a wide-ranging transformation in its approach. This would involve it becoming a world-class, full-service, global agency. Meeting the first of these goals required ensuring that it delivered work that could match the very best an external partner could provide; becoming full service involved ramping up its capabilities in various disciplines; and assuming a global role demanded setting common standards in a diverse range of countries, including Asian markets where the brand was not as well-known as in the US.

6

Sony Music Entertainment: Why this Kolaveri Di?

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Case Studies on Warc, Jack in the Box Worldwide, 2013

This case study describes how Sony Music, the entertainment company, distributed a song - Kolaveri Di, meaning "murderous rage" - from a Tamil film to a non-Tamil speaking audience in India. View Summary

This case study describes how Sony Music, the entertainment company, distributed a song - Kolaveri Di, meaning "murderous rage" - from a Tamil film to a non-Tamil speaking audience in India. This was to generate revenue through caller ring back tone downloads and buzz for the audio CD. The campaign used social media to launch and promote the song, matching up the essence of the song with the common behaviour of venting frustration online. Along with a link to the song on YouTube, the hashtag #WhyThisKolaveriDi was tweeted in conjunction with topical issues. The phrase was a line from the song that could be used when one was irked by a situation or by someone, and capturing a national mood it led to a cultural meme. The song's video garnered most of its views from the desired male target audience. As well as widespread sharing on social media, the caller ring back tones were downloaded two million times, generating substantial revenue before the CD was even released.

7

iTunes Radio

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Eridani Bakere, Mindshare, Original Thinkers, August 2013

This brief article discusses iTunes Radio, the Apple music streaming service expected to launch in September 2013, and considers the implications for advertisers. View Summary

This brief article discusses iTunes Radio, the Apple music streaming service expected to launch in September 2013, and considers the implications for advertisers. iTunes Radio will include ads that are demographically targeted and include links to the advertisers' websites. The article suggests that iTunes Radio will become an immediate competitor to other established services, Spotify and Pandora.

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Mixing music and social media - success stories from Sony, SingTel and Hewlett-Packard

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Low Lai Chow, Event Reports, Digital Matters, May 2013

This report outlines how several major brands are leveraging music and social media to engage consumers, and is based on a panel discussion at the Digital & Music Matters 2013 conference in Singapore. View Summary

This report outlines how several major brands are leveraging music and social media to engage consumers, and is based on a panel discussion at the Digital & Music Matters 2013 conference in Singapore. Sony Music has embraced social media, illustrated by campaigns such as "Bring 1D to Me", which drew on real-time data to pick which countries the boy-band One Direction would visit. SingTel, the telecoms group, has successfully worked with K-pop artists to exploit a passion point among its target audience. Similarly, Hewlett-Packard, the electronics company, has leveraged music and social media around Asia, such as via its sponsorship of YouTube's online FanFest music festival which attracted 22 million viewers from ten countries.

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Pandora's music data strikes the right note for brands

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Geoffrey Precourt, Event Reports, ad:tech San Francisco, May 2013

This event report from ad:tech San Francisco, describes how Pandora, the digital radio station, is applying big data to offer listeners a highly personalised music service. View Summary

This event report from ad:tech San Francisco, describes how Pandora, the digital radio station, is applying big data to offer listeners a highly personalised music service. Based on a subscribers listening preferences, the user is assigned a musical personality which has resulted in Pandora's "branded radio" service. This report describes how US soft drink brand, Gatorade, collaborated with Pandora, to engage with mobile savvy teens.

Media activities generated by consumers or communities that are neither paid for nor induced by brand owners are claimed to have a potentially game-changing impact on communication and brand building. View Summary

Media activities generated by consumers or communities that are neither paid for nor induced by brand owners are claimed to have a potentially game-changing impact on communication and brand building. In this study, the authors propose a rigorous methodology to assess the impact of this type of social media activities on the actual performance of brands in the market. The article begins by developing a four-step process to condense the complex reality of micro-social-media events for a brand into a manageable set of social media indicators (SMI). These SMI subsequently are used as a subset of the drivers, together with more traditional marketing-mix elements—in a general market-response model—to estimate their relative impact on brand performance in the market. This methodology is illustrated with two real-world examples—one in the flat-screen-television market and the other in the set of Internet broadband-service providers.

12

Samsung Hope Relay

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Direct Marketing Association - UK, DMA Awards, Silver, 2012

The Samsung Hope Relay app was designed to engage users with Samsung, the consumer electronics brand, during the UK-wide torch relay that ran prior to the London 2012 Olympic Games. View Summary

The Samsung Hope Relay app was designed to engage users with Samsung, the consumer electronics brand, during the UK-wide torch relay that ran prior to the London 2012 Olympic Games. The app, which was able to log distance by GPS, was designed to help people raise money for a range of charities, with Samsung itself donating £1 for every mile recorded. As an official Olympic sponsor, Samsung was able to leverage several sporting celebrity supporters to promote the campaign. The app itself asked users to create custom avatars that could be uploaded to Facebook to encourage friends to participate. The avatars of the best performing fundraisers were displayed on the side of the Samsung Caravan tour bus, which followed the torch procession around the UK. Users could keep track of their progress through maps, stats, leader boards and a tally of money raised. The app received a rating of 4 out of 5 on Google Play and 3.5 out of 5 on iTunes. Users in the five top performing towns in the UK ran over 70,000 miles.

13

Warc Tech Trends Snapshot: Listen to the Data - Why the music sector holds new opportunities for brands

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Warc Trends, November 2012

The growth of audio downloading and streaming is turning music data into a rich source of insight. Data-mining services are processing daily listening and purchasing information on a global scale for the music industry to use as a predictive, decision-making tool. View Summary

The growth of audio downloading and streaming is turning music data into a rich source of insight. Data-mining services are processing daily listening and purchasing information on a global scale for the music industry to use as a predictive, decision-making tool. This data is also driving new forms of advertising, such as music streaming service Spotify's campaign that showcased on outdoor posters the most popular songs of different UK regions. This Snapshot includes examples of brands ahead of the curve and discusses the general implications of the trend.

14

Samsung LED 3D TV: 3D Projection Mapping

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Cannes Creative Lions, Creative Effectiveness Lions, 2012

As the first-to-market 3D television in Holland, Samsung needed to convince consumers that its 3D technology was substantially different from existing TVs and establish itself ahead of the competition. View Summary

As the first-to-market 3D television in Holland, Samsung needed to convince consumers that its 3D technology was substantially different from existing TVs and establish itself ahead of the competition.

Its goals were to use social media to generate excitement, build brand awareness and increase overall market share.

Samsung created a unique interactive outdoor 3D projection in Amsterdam, demonstrating the technology and engaging consumers with product demonstrations, a YouTube video takeover and competitions.

The event was reported on by over 2,000 websites in 120 countries.

Brand health measures such as preference and recall increased significantly.

Samsung holds 100% 3D share, and grew its LED share by 30% and LCD share by 25%.

15

Samsung and the 'new 360': a social initiative for the London Olympics

This report from the ANA's TV & Everything Video Forum covers the address of Ralph Santana, CMO of Samsung, who talks about the company's forthcoming 'Olympic Genome' initiative to engage consumers before, during and after the forthcoming 2012 Olympic Games in London. View Summary

This report from the ANA's TV & Everything Video Forum covers the address of Ralph Santana, CMO of Samsung, who talks about the company's forthcoming 'Olympic Genome' initiative to engage consumers before, during and after the forthcoming 2012 Olympic Games in London. The campaign will be based around a Facebook app that builds a 'family tree' showing how a user is connected to the athletes competing at the event. He argues that the venture reflects a 'new 360', in which consumers engage with a brand idea through a wide range of different experiences (e.g. viewing, sharing, creating, shopping, gaming etc).

16

Household Audio and Video Equipment (Global Industry Overview)

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Gale Global Industry Overviews, 2011

This paper provides an overview of the global household audio and video equipment industry. The paper gives a snapshot summary, with additional sections on the industry's development, organisation and structure, current conditions and its leading companies and countries. View Summary

This paper provides an overview of the global household audio and video equipment industry. The paper gives a snapshot summary, with additional sections on the industry's development, organisation and structure, current conditions and its leading companies and countries. It contains a list of further information sources and reading.

17

Household Audio and Video Equipment (American Industry Overview)

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Gale American Industry Overviews, 2011

This paper provides an overview of the household audio and video equipment industry in the United States. View Summary

This paper provides an overview of the household audio and video equipment industry in the United States. It gives a snapshot summary of the industry, with additional sections on its development, organisation and structure, current conditions and leading companies. It contains a list of further information sources and reading.

18

Philips: Semangat 2011

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Shervin Seah, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

This campaign for Philips Indonesia leveraged social media, especially Twitter, to drive traffic to the company's recently-launched new consumer products website, to reframe Philips as the brand advocate for the personal well-being category. View Summary

This campaign for Philips Indonesia leveraged social media, especially Twitter, to drive traffic to the company's recently-launched new consumer products website, to reframe Philips as the brand advocate for the personal well-being category. Semangat 2011 (meaning "Happy New Me") encouraged Indonesians to tweet their New Year resolutions and win Philips products as prizes. Within nine days, the campaign increased traffic to the newly-launched Philips.co.id website (495% increase in page views; 45% increase in visits; 299% increase in page views/visits). It also received 12,945 contest submissions, exceeding the target by 62%.

19

Samsung: An unmatched lifelike 'Avatar' experience

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Wendy Yeo, Warc Prize for Asian Strategy, Entrant, 2011

To win in Singapore's fast-paced and highly competitive consumer electronics market, the breakthrough of any technological product has to be fully and quickly exploited. View Summary

To win in Singapore's fast-paced and highly competitive consumer electronics market, the breakthrough of any technological product has to be fully and quickly exploited. The launch of Samsung's new 3D TV focused on these imperatives, with each element in the resulting campaign - advertising, experiential and PR - focusing on the product's innovative promise. It drove a 631% increase in sales of LED TVs compared with the same 10 weeks the previous year. And a month-on-month sales rise of 15% for 3D LED TV from April to June 2010.

20

Digital Audio Entertainment (Emerging Industry Overview)

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Gale Emerging Industry Overviews, 2011

This paper provides an overview of the digital audio entertainment industry, primarily in the United States, including services that allow consumers to download individual songs or entire albums, as well as portable media players. View Summary

This paper provides an overview of the digital audio entertainment industry, primarily in the United States, including services that allow consumers to download individual songs or entire albums, as well as portable media players. The paper gives a snapshot summary of the emerging industry in the US, with additional sections on its development, organisation and structure, current conditions and leading companies. It concludes with a brief section about the industry in other countries ('America and the world') as well as a list of further information sources and reading.

21

Video Displays (Emerging Industry Overview)

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Gale Emerging Industry Overviews, 2011

This paper provides an overview of the video displays industry, primarily in the United States. This industry includes flat panel display TV and PC screens as well as a wide range of smaller, portable consumer devices such as cell phones and digital cameras. View Summary

This paper provides an overview of the video displays industry, primarily in the United States. This industry includes flat panel display TV and PC screens as well as a wide range of smaller, portable consumer devices such as cell phones and digital cameras. The paper gives a snapshot summary of the emerging industry in the US, with additional sections on its development, organisation and structure, current conditions and leading companies. It concludes with a brief section about the industry in other countries ('America and the world') as well as a list of further information sources and reading.

OLSON Minneapolis relaunched Memorex, an outdated brand with a lacklustre product line and a tiny marketing budget, as the first consumer electronics brand to appeal to women. View Summary

OLSON Minneapolis relaunched Memorex, an outdated brand with a lacklustre product line and a tiny marketing budget, as the first consumer electronics brand to appeal to women. Specifically the untapped and under-served market of Moms and their families. Rather than focusing on advertising they channelled energy into helping Memorex completely redesign its products, using pain as an approach. Retailers signed up to carry the new line in droves with all major US retailers agreeing to carry the new line.

Philips' 21:9 Cinema - a premium-priced flat-screen TV - successfully differentiated itself via this campaign, based on an online and offline "cinematic event". The first, digital-only, phase of the campaign, targeting trendsetters, featured an interactive film consisting of a single tracking shot - which users could interact with by moving the camera back and forth. They could also change the aspect ratio: highlighting the benefits of the advertised product. The campaign then moved into other media. Philips achieved a 10% sales boost for 2009, ahead of its target of 4%.

This article on technology brands in Latin America emphasizes the need for the sector’s advertisers to build emotional bonds with consumers. View Summary

This article on technology brands in Latin America emphasizes the need for the sector’s advertisers to build emotional bonds with consumers. The authors argue that although technology brands have traditionally focused on communicating functional benefits, technology consumers’ behaviour is more affected by the degree to which they have experienced a brand and become emotionally attached to it. The writers cite data from IntenTrack, a consumer tracking study developed by Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) to measure how exposure to different media affects consumers’ intentions and buying habits. They examine how consumers behaved when choosing an internet service provider, and argue that exposure to television advertising, to research on the internet or to recommendation by a friend or family member helped build affinity between consumers and a specific brand. Data on the degree to which consumers in different sectors are “sensitive” to brands is also included.

25

Verizon Wireless - How Sweet the Sound

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Effie Worldwide, Gold, African-American, Effie Awards 2009

Struggling to gain market share in the African-American segment, Verizon Wireless took a completely new approach to connect with this community, launching a gospel choir competition, “How Sweet the Sound.” The competition culminated in an electrifying concert at the FedEx Forum arena in Memphis in October 2007. View Summary

Struggling to gain market share in the African-American segment, Verizon Wireless took a completely new approach to connect with this community, launching a gospel choir competition, “How Sweet the Sound.” The competition culminated in an electrifying concert at the FedEx Forum arena in Memphis in October 2007. The multi-channel, integrated campaign, involving online, TV, radio, newspaper, out-of-home, mobile, direct mail and email, touched the hearts and souls of the community and dramatically accelerated Verizon Wireless sales and market share.